The Ram Navami violence in West Bengal was planned and the police were not neutral, the fact-finding committee headed by former Chief Justice Narsimha Reddy said on Monday, even as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rubbished their claims.
Speaking to News18, Reddy said, “The riots, which erupted on the occasion of Ram Navami on March 30 and continued in its aftermath, were pre-planned and orchestrated. We will meet the Governor and will submit our report to the agencies concerned.”
WB CM Mamata Banerjee, during an inauguration function, came down heavily on the committee, saying, “What is fact-finding? Who are they? The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is busy sending fact-finding teams, human rights team, children rights team, women rights team and what not.”
Standing by the WB police, she said, “All the accused who incited violence in Howrah on Ram Navami were from outside Bengal. The police hadn’t given permission for their rally. In the meeting with the police officials, the organisers had said that they would take out the procession during lunch hours, but the BJP intentionally took out the rally during the time of namaz.”
The CM said: “What was the need for the BJP workers to carry out the procession with firearms?… All the men who were part of the rally were from outside Bengal, some from Munger in Bihar. People from Bengal stay together, they don’t do ‘danga’, they are cultured people.”
Even as the verdict on handing over the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is still to be out, a war of words was seen in the court, too, between the lawyer of BJP’s Suvendhu Adhikary and Advocate General.
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